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On Friday, Iraq recorded a record number of new Covid-19 cases since the start of the pandemic, prompting authorities to warn that the country’s health system may not be able to cope with the growing number of people whose cases require hospitalization.
On Friday, Iraq counted 5,036 new cases of the new Corona virus, bringing the total number to 252,075 cases, including 7,359 deaths and 191,368 recoveries, according to the Health Ministry.
The Ministry attributed this increase in injuries to “large concentrations” that took place recently without taking into account precautionary measures such as the use of masks or maintaining physical distance, especially during the Ashura commemoration.
On August 30, thousands of Shiite pilgrims gathered in Karbala, Iraq, to commemorate Ashura, at one of the largest religious gatherings in the Islamic world since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.
On the 10th of Muharram, Shiite Muslims commemorate Ashura, the day of the murder of Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, at the Battle of Karbala in 680, in what was a watershed event for the sectarian division in Islam.
Iraqi authorities had taken steps in the holy city to prevent the spread of the virus, such as spraying disinfectant in an aerosol with long, thin hoses, distributing masks to visitors with uncovered faces and measuring the temperature of arrivals, but these measures are insufficient. , according to the Ministry of Health.
The ministry said in a statement on Friday: “Despite the commitment of most of the Hussaini municipalities to the preventive measures that we emphasized in our previous statements, we have seen many large concentrations in many places, such as streets, markets, restaurants, etc. ., without taking any of the measures recommended by our ministry, which is what caused this increase in the number of injuries? ”
He added that the number of injured is expected to “continue to increase in the coming days, which we fear will lead to losing control of our health institutions in the treatment of this large number of injured and, therefore, the number of deaths after have gone a long way in reducing them in recent weeks. ” .
And before the Ashura commemoration, the World Health Organization had warned that the number of Covid-19 cases in Iraq was increasing “at an alarming rate.” He said Iraq, which has a health system that has struggled for years, must take steps to end the spread of disease in society “at any cost.”
